London Team

Nigel is the Solis Marine Chairman and brings to the Group a significant amount of executive and senior management level experience gained over more than 30 years within the marine consulting and offshore energy sectors. He is primarily responsible for assisting and advising the Partners and members of the senior management team on all strategic matters and for providing support to the implementation of the Group’s plans for growth.

Nigel was previously the Managing Director of a leading Marine Consultant and Surveyors where he led the sale of the business before overseeing a period of growth, introducing new service lines to the business to complement the traditional core activities. He was also previously Group Finance Director at a private equity backed multi-disciplinary Marine and Offshore Engineering Consultancy, and he has held the position of Strategic Director for the Technical Services Division of a leading UK listed shipping services group.

Nigel has a BA(Hons) degree in Business and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Class One Marine Engineer STCW III/2

Chartered Engineer and Chartered Marine Engineer

Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology

Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Chris is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology. Having served at sea and worked ashore in other technical roles, he first entered marine consultancy in 2008, and progressed to heading the UK marine engineering department of another leading marine consultancy. Chris joined Solis Marine Consultants in July 2021.

His surveying and consultancy experience includes main and auxiliary machinery failure and damage investigations, collision damages, bunker disputes, ship’s crane damages, fires and explosions, salvage and wreck removal. He applies a forensic, open-minded and balanced approach to his investigative work, with health, safety, environmental and human elements as other key considerations. Chris has attended mediation and given expert evidence at arbitration and in court.

At sea, he served on numerous cruise vessels, ro-ro’s, tugs and a dredger. He achieved his Class One Certificate of Competency (Motor) and has a broad experience of diesel, steam and diesel/steam electric propulsion systems and auxiliaries.

Other shore-based experience have included the commissioning of power generation and prime mover control systems, including gas turbines and dual fuel engines. He has also been involved in new-build, state-of-the-art environmental systems design, and in the development, trials and implementation of environmentally acceptable lubricants and hydraulic fluids.

Through his consultancy, he continues to be engaged with the environmental aspects of shipping, including through compliance surveys and other related matters, such as pollution investigations and discretionary claims.

Master Mariner STCW ll/2 unlimited

University of Stirling BA Tertiary Education 2011

University of London (QM & UCL) Master of Laws, Maritime Law 2020

Cate is a Master Mariner with more than 35 years’ experience of the maritime industry.

Significant seagoing experience has been gained on a wide variety of vessels from container, reefer and product carriers on worldwide trading routes, also Ro-Pax and High-Speed Craft (HSC) and AHTS. As a lecturer at a UK nautical college, Cate provided training for UK Certificates of Competency from Deck Cadets through to Master and successfully completed a BA in Tertiary Education.

Experience was also gained in New Zealand where Cate worked for the Flag State which involved accident investigation into navigational incidents including fires, groundings, failure of mechanical and cargo equipment, injuries and fatalities. She also took part in Port and Flag State Control inspections. During this period, she completed Lead Auditor Training for ISO 9001:2008 and ISM, also attending the 5th General training course on Port State Control for Port State Control Officers in the Asia-Pacific Region (Tokyo MoU) and gained further experience by being involved with an exchange program with AMSA.

After returning to the UK, Cate became an Examiner of Master and Mates, and also focused on oversight of UK approved education centres and training for seafarers. This included attending IMO meetings on behalf of the UK, and the issue of Safe Manning Documents and SMD exemptions. Technical and operational advice was also provided to IMO, seafarers and industry. 

Cate has completed her Master of Laws from the University of London having studied modules for Admiralty Law, International Law of the Sea, Marine Insurance, and Corporate Governance and compliance.

John is a consultant marine engineer with over 50 years of experience gained at sea and ashore. A steam and motor chief engineer, he has also provided expert reports in a number of machinery claims and given expert evidence in arbitration.

John has carried out investigations on behalf of insurers and investigated breakdowns and equipment failure on all types of vessels.

His seagoing experience, from junior to chief engineer, was on general cargo, container vessels and chemical tankers. He then became an engineering superintendent of jack-up and semi-submersible offshore drilling units and drill ships, working out of Chile, Brazil, Singapore and the North Sea (UK).

John later became a surveyor and loss adjuster undertaking energy and offshore related claims for a fully owned subsidiary of The Salvage Association. More recently John has worked as a surveyor with the Salvage Association, renamed BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys which became part of the Braemar Technical Services group.

Mark is a senior maritime civil engineer who specialises in providing consultancy services to P&I Clubs, insurers, lawyers, ship owners and managers, port and terminal owners and operators.

Mark’s principal activities concern the inspection of damages to maritime and marine structures and mechanical handling equipment on a worldwide basis.  He provides advice on causation, the nature and extent of damage, methods of repair and quantum, review of business interruption and loss of use together with providing engineering expertise including liaison with contractors and co-ordination of repairs works. 

In addition to the investigation of damages to ports and harbours Mark has extensive experience of investigation of storm and other damages to marinas worldwide.

Mark has specialist experience in unsafe port and berth investigations and has prepared expert reports in respect of unsafe ports and berths for High Court and Arbitration proceedings and has given expert evidence in the High Court in London, the Appeal Court in Bergen, Norway and High Court in Cape Town, South Africa.

Mark also has specialist experience in seabed remediation following vessel groundings and wreck removals including preparation of the ITT, selection of contractors, contract negotiation and management and supervision of the works.

Since 2001, Mark has worked for international marine consultancies in senior positions. Prior to that, he gained more than a decade of specialist experience in the design and construction of major international multi-disciplinary projects such as ports and harbours, tank farms, oil import and export facilities, marinas, immersed tube road tunnels. Those operations also included design, site supervision and management.

His experience includes:

• Property and business interruption claims
• Suspended deck quays and jetties
• Mooring and berthing dolphins – rigid and flexible, multi or single (mono) pile
• Fenders, bollards and mechanical mooring equipment
• Sea and river walls – steel sheet piles, blockwork, concrete caissons
• Breakwaters – solid, rubble mound, caisson
• Pipelines
• Pipe-racks
• Quayside Loading / Unloading and Mechanical Handling Equipment
• Marine Loading Arms
• Ship to shore cranes
• Shiploaders and Conveyors
• Single Point and Conventional Buoy Moorings (SPM and CBM)
• Bridges, Ro-Ro Ramps and Linkspans
• Locks and Lock Gates
• Marina Damage involving Pontoons, catenary moorings, mooring piles, bridges, lock gates

Mark Ball’s services are provided by Integra Technical Services Limited.